πόλεμος

Ancient Greek

Alternative forms

• πτόλεμος (ptólemos) — Epic

Etymology

According to Beekes, of origin.

However, the word has been connected to πάλλω (pállō, “to poise, sway, brandish”), πελεμὶζω (pelemìzō, “to shake, cause to quiver or tremble, struggle at the bow, in order to bend it”) and perhaps ψάλλω (psállō, “to pluck, twitch a string with the fingers; to sing to a harp, chant praises”), all possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to approach”).

Compare Latin pello (“to push, drive, strike; to rout, conquer, defeat; to strike a chord; to touch, move”) and palpo (“to touch softly, stroke, pat, caress”), English feel, Ancient Greek πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike, smite”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌼𐌰 (usfilma, “terrified, appalled”), 𐌿𐍃𐍆𐌹𐌻𐌼𐌴𐌹 (usfilmei, “fright, horror, dismay”) – quasi analogies to ἐκπλήσσω (ekplḗssō) –, and Russian полох (polox, “fear, fright”).

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pó.le.mos/ → /ˈpo.le.mos/ → /ˈpo.le.mos/

• (5^th BCE Attic) IPA^(key): /pó.le.mos/
• (1^st CE Egyptian) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.le.mos/
• (4^th CE Koine) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.le.mos/
• (10^th CE Byzantine) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.le.mos/
• (15^th CE Constantinopolitan) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.le.mos/

Noun

πόλεμος • (pólemos) m (genitive πολέμου); second declension

1. war, battle

Inflection

Second declension of ὁ πόλεμος; τοῦ πολέμου (Attic)

Case / #	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ πόλεμος ho pólemos	τὼ πολέμω tṑ polémō	οἱ πόλεμοι hoi pólemoi
Genitive	τοῦ πολέμου toû polémou	τοῖν πολέμοιν toîn polémoin	τῶν πολέμων tôn polémōn
Dative	τῷ πολέμῳ tôi polémōi	τοῖν πολέμοιν toîn polémoin	τοῖς πολέμοις toîs polémois
Accusative	τὸν πόλεμον tòn pólemon	τὼ πολέμω tṑ polémō	τοὺς πολέμους toùs polémous
Vocative	πόλεμε póleme	πολέμω polémō	πόλεμοι pólemoi
Notes:	This table gives Attic inflectional endings. For declension in other dialects, see Appendix:Ancient Greek dialectal declension.

Derived terms

• μενεπτόλεμος (meneptólemos)
• πολεμαδόκος (polemadókos)
• πολέμαιγις (polémaigis)
• πολεμαίνετος (polemaínetos)
• πολεμάρχειος (polemárkheios)
• πολεμαρχέω (polemarkhéō)
• πολεμάρχης (polemárkhēs)
• πολεμαρχία (polemarkhía)
• πολεμαρχικός (polemarkhikós)
• πολέμαρχος (polémarkhos)
• πολεμέω (poleméō)
• πολεμηδόκος (polemēdókos)
• πολεμήϊος (polemḗïos)
• πολεμησείω (polemēseíō)
• πολεμητέον (polemētéon)
• πολεμητήριον (polemētḗrion)
• πολεμητής (polemētḗs)
• πολεμητόκος (polemētókos)
• πολεμήτωρ (polemḗtōr)
• πολεμιεῖον (polemieîon)
• πολεμίζω (polemízō)
• πολεμικός (polemikós)
• πολέμιος (polémios)
• πολεμιστήριος (polemistḗrios)
• πολεμιστής (polemistḗs)
• πολεμιστρίς (polemistrís)
• πολεμογράφος (polemográphos)
• πολεμοκέλαδος (polemokélados)
• πολεμόκλονος (polemóklonos)
• πολεμόκραντος (polemókrantos)
• πολεμολαμαχαϊκός (polemolamakhaïkós)
• πόλεμόνδε (pólemónde)
• πολεμοποιέω (polemopoiéō)
• πολεμοποιός (polemopoiós)
• πολεμοτροφέω (polemotrophéō)
• πολεμοφθόρος (polemophthóros)
• πολεμοφόνευτος (polemophóneutos)
• πολεμόφρων (polemóphrōn)
• πολεμόω (polemóō)
• πολεμώδης (polemṓdēs)
• πολεμώνιον (polemṓnion)
• Τληπόλεμος (Tlēpólemos)

 

Descendants

• Greek: πόλεμος (pólemos)

Further reading

• “πόλεμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πόλεμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1940) A Greek–English Lexicon, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “πόλεμος”, in Liddell & Scott (1889) An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “πόλεμος”, in Autenrieth, Georg (1891) A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, New York: Harper and Brothers
• πόλεμος in Bailly, Anatole (1935) Le Grand Bailly: Dictionnaire grec-français, Paris: Hachette
• Bauer, Walter et al. (2001) A Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, Third edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
• πόλεμος in Cunliffe, Richard J. (1924) A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect: Expanded Edition, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, published 1963
• “πόλεμος”, in Slater, William J. (1969) Lexicon to Pindar, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
• G4171 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible
• Woodhouse, S. C. (1910) English–Greek Dictionary: A Vocabulary of the Attic Language‎^[1], London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Limited.
  • circumstance idem, page 133.
  • hostility idem, page 407.
  • surrounding idem, page 845.
  • sword idem, page 849.
  • war idem, page 962.
  • warfare idem, page 964.
• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

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Greek

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πόλεμος (pólemos).

Noun

πόλεμος • (pólemos) m (plural πόλεμοι)

1. war

   εμφύλιος πόλεμος ― emfýlios pólemos ― civil war

   ακήρυχτος πόλεμος ― akírychtos pólemos ― undeclared war

   ολοκληρωτικός πόλεμος ― oloklirotikós pólemos ― total war

   ανάπηρος πολέμου ― anápiros polémou ― disabled serviceman

Declension

Declension of πόλεμος

	singular	plural
nominative	πόλεμος •	πόλεμοι •
genitive	πολέμου •	πολέμων •
accusative	πόλεμο •	πολέμους •
vocative	πόλεμε •	πόλεμοι •

Derived terms

• εμφύλιος πόλεμος m (emfýlios pólemos, “civil war”)